A blog about preschool, public schools, and what it's really like to be a teacher

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I’ve been feeling logy ever since I went home from work yesterday, and grateful that I have a three day weekend.

Don’t get me wrong; this year will be terrific. The kids are great, and extremely likable, and smart, not to mention very cute. But a few things are different this year that might get us off to a slower, slightly more difficult start. I’ve never had so many kids show up the first week before. That might seem weird to you, unless you work in a large urban district like mine. Usually I’ll have 3-6 kids whose names are on my list, but never show up. Their parents sign ’em up, but then move or change schools without bothering to mention it to us. This year, I had 19 of my 20, right from the start. Poor little J., whoever he may be. I kind of hope he doesn’t show up.

If I had 14 or so, it would be easier to teach the rules and routines, and then we could more easily absorb new kids as they show up. Ah well, not this year.

I’ve also never had so many non-English speakers in my class. Only 4 of the 19 speak English as their first language. That’s a challenge, even though most of them speak or at least understand a little bit of English. (Some of the kids whose parents told me “he doesn’t speak any English” actually do speak a little, which was a nice surprise.) Much of what I am saying to them about school and what I want them to do and how we do things here are going zoooooom, right over their heads.

So when E. won’t stop talking and interrupting, or when M. keeps going up the slide (instead of down, which is my rule, to prevent crashes) and both of them end up sitting in the take-a-break chair, they don’t completely understand what they are doing there. E. got very serious and quiet. M. sobbed, then got very pouty. I told them I wasn’t mad, that I want them to listen to me and remember the rules, but I don’t think they understood.

And while my migraines stayed away, I was really struggling in the heat and high humidity. On Thursday I sweated so much my lanyard was wet, and that was a (gross) first.

I still haven’t gotten enough sleep since work started, and last but not least, I am having trouble figuring out how to take care of my home and family responsibilities while exhausted and trying to find a work-life balance.

Oh yeah, there was one more thing. Little S., my screamer. We had a special ed teacher helping us on Thursday and Friday; I don’t know how we will manage on Tuesday, when it’s just us and little Screamy.